Want your Nexus 7 to function as a projector? Texas Instruments is working on it!

July 6, 2013 - Written By Christopher Heidt

Have you ever wanted to have your tablet’s screen projected that didn’t include the use of extra peripherals? Texas Instruments has aimed to let you do just that. Chinese company “Smart Devices” has used the Dallas-based electronics company’s DLP (Digital Light Processing) technology in their ‘SmartQ-U7′, which they claim is the “World’s First tablet with a Projector built in”.

Recently, 9To5Google received one of the U7 tablets to play around with, and while the writer of the article wasn’t completely impressed with the tablet itself, he did conclude that it was proof that it might be something that that could be easily, and cheaply, added to a tablet in the future.

The U7 uses Texas Instrument’s ‘pico’ chipset, which is small enough to be placed into smartphones and tablets without much of a noticeable difference. It has a 35 lumens, 854×480 WVGA resolution display, and can project its display up to 50 inches. You would think that this would add some extra weight to the device, and you would be right… although it’s only a paltry 20 grams heavier than the Nexus 7! The bad stuff far outweighs the good though, so I wouldn’t recommend picking up this tablet, unless you absolutely need to have a tablet/projector hybrid right now. Otherwise, you will want to wait.

The good news is, if having a tablet, or even a smartphone, that also works well as a projector sounds interesting to you, this device proves that not only can it be done without adding extra bulk and weight, but it can also be done relatively cheap. We’ve all seen how tablets have quickly become more and more popular, to the point of outselling PCs this year. Will the trend of seeing the tablet as the ‘must have, all in one device’ continue, with companies adding even more features, such as DLP technology? If companies such as Google were to consider adding this to a future device (such as a future Nexus?), would that make it more likely to attract new buyers, or is this something that would neither make or break someone’s decision to purchase? Hit me up below and let me know.